ABSTRACT This article complements existing life course research on poverty by looking at the typical income poverty trajectories during the first five years after experiencing a risky life event such as partnership dissolution and leaving the parental home. By broadening the time frame of research into poverty transitions, a more complete picture can be drawn of the poverty patterns related to these life events. Latent class analyses of the European Community Household Panel show that the poverty risk after experiencing a life course event is not equally large and long-lasting for everyone. Broadly, four comparable latent classes can be found across Germany, Spain, Denmark and the United Kingdom: persistent non-poor, persons with a transient – or transient-recurrent – poverty risk, persons with longer-term poverty risk and late poverty entrants. Yet, the size and occurrence of the latent classes differs between countries according to welfare regime. The article discusses country differences and social determinants of the different poverty trajectories.